Remembering the 12 Million Dollar Pizza Order

The most expensive pizza order in history was placed four years ago today. A Jacksonville, Florida man named Laszlo offered 10,000 BTC in exchange for two large pizzas on 18 May 2010. Laszlo said he wanted to be able to tell people about how he paid for pizza with bitcoin, but I don’t think he realized the impact this transaction would have just a few years later. Valued at $41 USD that day, when bitcoin hit $1200 USD in December 2013 that order would have been worth a full $12,000,000.00. That’s a pricey pizza!

Laszlo went on to spend more bitcoin on additional pizzas. I suspect he wishes he would have paid USD for those pizzas, saving his BTC. Hindsight is always 20-20… It’s just as likely Laszlo has no regrets, however, and is living comfortably on a private island purchased with the countless remaining BTC he didn’t spend on pizza. Either way, this transaction is now a milestone in bitcoin history.

You can read Laszlo’s original post at Bitcointalk.org, along with dozens of pages of comments.

About the author

Avai is a jack-of-all-trades multimedia artist with a passion for storytelling. He's worked in film, animation, comics, and video games. You can find his work at avai.media. Avai rides his motorcycle without wearing a safety belt. He also loves the idea of a truly open, digital currency...and what that means for the future.